I was the Designated Tuba one night in my instrumental period, and being "Carnival of the Animals", I was offstage, there being no tuba part in the arrangement we used. Our conductor, though, wanted to show off something a little different. So, from offstage, our first chair double bass entered, and took his place in a spotlight to play "The Swan" - hey, swans are BIG birds. The lights dimmed, and there were Jerry and his bass being Pavlova - well, the music part anyway. They got a huge ovation for it, as it was beautifully played, and nobody expects a bull fiddle to sing!

As I understand it, Saint-Saens only permitted the publication of the entire score of "Carnival of the Animals" to take place after his death. "The Swan" was the sole exception, it being generally released by 1905. Apparently the composer kept the score around as a sort of family entertainment, the cello part being occasionally transcribed into the bass clef from the tenor. It all depended, apparently, on who was free to do the family musicale, cellist or bassist. The bassist must play the part with the left hand VERY far down the neck and fingerboard of the instrument, but the sound is unique, and leaves me, at least, wanting the part to be played on the larger instrument.

I was the Designated Tuba one night in my instrumental period, and being "Carnival of the Animals", I was offstage, there being no tuba part in the arrangement we used. Our conductor, though, wanted to show off something a little different. So, from offstage, our first chair double bass entered, and took his place in a spotlight to play "The Swan" - hey, swans are BIG birds. The lights dimmed, and there were Jerry and his bass being Pavlova - well, the music part anyway. They got a huge ovation for it, as it was beautifully played, and nobody expects a bull fiddle to sing!

Mel, interesting scoring and undoubtedly effective.

I know the original scoring for "Carnival of the Animals" included: flute/piccolo, clarinet, glass harmonica, xylophone, 2 pianos and strings, but what was the original scoring for ‘The Swan’?

Like most people I am used to hearing it performed with cello and harp or cello and piano.

What Saint Saens wanted to achieve was a direct contrast to the other animals in what was a fun piece written for a Mardi Gras celebration. What Fokine and Pavlova wanted to achieved matches the music perfectly but perhaps from a different set of values to Saint-Saens? The music for me catches the elegaic movements of a swan and when I observe them in nature I always hum the music to see if it really matches the movements of this bird and for me it always does.

In the dance, is the swan really dying or is it an anthropomorphic study of the struggles of life for a beautiful bird that always seems humanly feminine in nature?

Saint-Saens might well have approved of "the Swan" having a second life as a ballet, as he was very fond of the genre composing 20 minutes of ballet music in his opera "Henry VIII". Later in life(1896) he composed the ballet "Javotte" (recorded by one time SF Ballet Music Director Andrew Mogrelia).

Whilst on a visit to Russia in 1876 he had danced an improvised ballet with Tchaikovsky (Galatea and Pygmalion) in the Moscow Conservatoire Hall accompanied by Nikolai Rubinstein on the piano. The established friendship however did not last.

I have a 1906 sheetmusic set for one piano and tenor instrument, suggesting cello as the solo melody (in America, though, a lot of men played the tenor horn). As I understand it, the movement was suggested by a poem in a newspaper or magazine of the time. It was supposed to be a feuilleton, a throwaway, but it inspired a durable piece of music which has the power to move, even without a dancer. In the "full" version, it's just the solo cello and the two pianos.